System and method for appending security information to search engine results

ABSTRACT

A system for appending security information to search engine results, including a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, for issuing a security analysis request to a content security scanner to assess at least one designated web page for potential security risks, and for preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages and security assessments for the located web pages, a client computer communicatively coupled with the search engine for issuing a search request with at least one user designated search term, to the search engine, and for receiving the search results summary from the search engine, and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with the search engine for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page. A method and computer-readable storage media are also described and claimed.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/740,663 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPENDING SECURITY INFORMATION TO SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS, filed on Nov. 30, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer security associated with identified search engine results.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet has grown and continues to grow dramatically, and the wealth of information available on the Internet is enormous. In order to take advantage of this wealth of information, a key enabler is a web search engine. A web search engine is a tool that enables a user to request a search for web pages or media such as songs, pictures and movies, on the Internet that contain designated search terms, and that responds by providing a summary with links to web pages thus found. Without a search engine, the Internet would be like a library with millions of books shelved in random order, and without an index system to reference them.

Today, very sophisticated and powerful search engines exist, such as the search engine of Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., and the search engine of Yahoo!, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which enable a user to search millions of web pages for designated search terms, and media such as pictures, songs and movies, within seconds.

Because the Internet is a public network, there is no natural screening in place for content placed on the web. Instead, special screening tools such as content filters are used to filter out undesired content. One of the most vital filters is a content security filter, which blocks content containing viruses or other such malicious program code from being downloaded and wreaking havoc in a user's computer. Content security filters are described in Applicants' U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,092,194 and 6,804,780, both entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROTECTING A COMPUTER AND A NETWORK FROM HOSTILE DOWNLOADABLES, pending U.S. Ser. No. 10/930,884, entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ADAPTIVE RULE-BASED CONTENT SCANNERS, and pending U.S. Ser. No. 11/298,475, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING DYNAMICALLY GENERATED EXECUTABLE CODE, all of which are incorporated by reference.

Like the Internet, conventional search engines have no natural screening in place, and the web pages and media located by a search engine in its search results may contain content that poses security risks. If a user does not have a security filter in place on his computer, then he may compromise his computer security by clicking on one of the links displayed in a search results summary. Even if the user does have a security filter in place, which blocks his computer from downloading unsafe content, he may still click on links to web pages with unsafe content, which are then blocked by his content filter. If his filter is not continually updated, then the filter may not be able to block all types of unsafe content. If his filter is continually updated, then the filter will block unsafe content, but the user will waste time clicking on links in search results that reference web pages or media with unsafe content, and then having these web pages or media blocked by the filter. This may waste, for example a few seconds of time for each unsafe link displayed in the search results. Given that users regularly sift through hundreds of search engine results on a daily basis, the waste of time is significant.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for combining operation of a search engine with operation of a content security filter, so as to provide security assessments for web pages or media content (collectively, web content) located by the search engine. Media content includes inter alia audio content for songs and speech, image content for pictures, video content for clips and movies, and content for animations, presentations and slide shows. In accordance with the present invention, a user can discern which links displayed in a search results summary reference potentially unsafe web pages and media, and thus refrain from clicking on such links. Moreover, systems operating in accordance with the present invention can be configured so as to eliminate potentially unsafe web pages and media from the search results summary, in which case only links to safe web pages and to safe media are displayed to the user in the summary.

Systems operating in accordance with the present invention can integrate a client computer with a web browser, a search engine with a web server, and a content security scanner, to append security assessments to search engine results. As used herein, appending refers to inclusion in any way as a part of search engine results, including, for example, in-line with individual search results or at the end of a group of results. This can be embodied in a wide variety of architectures that couple these components in different ways. In some embodiments of the present invention, a database manager can be used to store content inspection results in a database indexed by web page references, such as URLs. In these embodiments, security assessments can be retrieved directly from the database. Use of a database for storing security assessments enables content security scanning to be performed asynchronously, and not necessarily in real-time. Use of a database for storing security assessments also enables content security scanning to be performed pro-actively, and not necessarily reactively.

There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for appending security information to search engine results, including receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locating web content in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, requesting assessment of the located web content for potential security risks, and transmitting a search results summary that includes links to the located web content.

There is also provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a system for appending security information to search engine results, including a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web content that includes at least one designated search term received from a client computer, for issuing a security analysis request to a content security scanner to assess at least one located item of web content for potential security risks, and for preparing a search results summary to be transmitted to the client computer that incorporates a security assessment for the assessed item of web content, and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with the search engine for responding to the issued security analysis request to assess security associated with the item of web content.

There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locate web content in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, assess the located content for potential security risks, and transmit a search results summary that includes links to the located web content and security assessments for the located web content.

There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a system for appending security information to search engine results, including a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, and for preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, a client computer communicatively coupled with the search engine for issuing a search request with at least one user designated search term to the search engine, for receiving the search results summary from the search engine, and for issuing a security analysis request to a content security scanner for assessing designated web pages for potential security risks, and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with the client computer for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page.

There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for appending security information to search engine results, including receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locating web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, embedding an active program within the search results summary, assessing content in the located web pages for potential security risks, and storing the assessments of content in the located web pages within a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by references to web pages.

There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locate web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, prepare a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, embed an active program within the search results summary, assess content in the located web pages for potential security risks, and store the assessments of content in the located web pages within a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by references to web pages.

There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a system for appending security information to search engine results, including a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, for preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, and for embedding an active program within the search results, a client computer communicatively coupled with the search engine for issuing a search request with at least one user designated search term to the search engine, for receiving search results from the search engine, and for executing active program code, and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with the client computer, which is invoked by active program code, for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page for potential security risks.

There is yet further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a method for appending security information to search engine results, including receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locating web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, embedding an active program within the search results summary, invoking the program to request security analysis of at least one designated web page, and assessing content in the at least one designated web page for potential security risks.

There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locate web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term, prepare a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, embed an active program within the search results summary, invoke the program to request security analysis of at least one designated web page, and assess content in the at least one designated web page for potential security risks.

There is moreover provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a system for appending security information to search engine results, including a client computer for issuing a search request with at least one designated search term, a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, a content security scanner for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page, for potential security risks, and a web application coupled with the client computer, with the search engine and with the content security scanner, for receiving a search request from the client computer, for issuing a search request to the search engine, for issuing a security analysis request to the content security scanner based on search results received from the search engine, and for preparing a results summary that includes links to located web pages and security assessments for the located web pages based on results received from the content security scanner, and returning the results summary to the client computer.

There is further provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention a system for appending security information to search engine results, including a database manager for storing and retrieving security assessments, from a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by references to web pages, a client computer coupled with the database manager, for issuing a search request with at least one designated search term, and for executing active program code for retrieving security assessments for content in designated web pages from the database, a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, a content security scanner coupled with the database manager, for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page, for potential security risks, and for storing the assessments within the database, and a web application coupled with the client computer, with the search engine and with the content security scanner, for receiving a search request from the client computer, for issuing a search request to the search engine, for issuing a security analysis request to the content security scanner based on search results received from the search engine, and for returning the search results, together with active program code to the client computer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The claimed invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a known display of search results;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a display of search results that appends security information, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a server-side system for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a simplified flow chart of a server-side method for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a first client-side system for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a simplified flow chart of a first client-side method for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a second client-side system, using active code, for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a simplified flow chart of a second client-side method, using active code, for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a system for appending security information to search results, using a web application, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram of a system for appending security information to search results, using a web application and using a database management system, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion concerns computer network security and web search engines and more specifically, methods and systems for assessing security of web content referenced in search results. Web content includes web pages and media including, inter alia, audio content for songs and speech, image content for pictures, video content for clips and movies, and content for animations, presentations and slide shows.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which is an illustration of a known display of search results. The display shown in FIG. 1 was generated by querying a web search engine with the search term “screensavers”. The specific search engine invoked is the well-known search engine of Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. A summary of results is displayed in FIG. 1, the summary including links to web pages and descriptive text about the web pages. For example, the first link 110 points to www.screensavers.com and includes descriptive text 120 that reads “Screensavers.com is the leader in free desktop wallpapers and screen savers . . . ”. The second link 130 points to www.screensaver.com and includes descriptive text 140 that reads “Features hundreds of top quality screensavers and desktop themes . . . ”.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is an illustration of a display of search results that appends security information, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The display shown in FIG. 2 was generated by querying a web search engine with the search term “screensavers”. Links 210 and 230 and respective descriptive texts 220 and 240 appear, corresponding to the links and descriptive texts in FIG. 1. The search results in FIG. 2 are augmented with security information. Specifically, content in the web pages referenced by links 210 and 230 was inspected and found to have potential security risks. This is indicated in FIG. 2 by the augmented messages “Forbidden URL. URL Category is hacking.” Such a message alerts a user to a potential spyware risk in following link 210 to the web page www.screensavers.com, or in following link 230 to the web page www.screensaver.com.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a user may configure various settings for display of search results. In one configuration, only links to safe web pages are displayed in the search results. Under this configuration links 210 and 230 and their respective descriptive texts 220 and 240 would be filtered out and not displayed altogether. In another configuration, links to safe and potentially unsafe web pages are displayed, but when the user tries to link to a potentially unsafe web page, a pop-up box with an alert message is displayed asking the user to confirm his selection, prior to browsing the unsafe web page. In another configuration, potentially unsafe web pages are displayed in a special color, such as bright red, or with a special icon, such as a skull & bones, to flag that they pose a potential security risk.

Aspects of the present invention may be implemented within a wide variety of computer software and hardware architectures. Three such architectures are provided in FIGS. 3-8. Specifically, FIGS. 3 and 4, described in detail herein below, illustrate a server-side architecture, where a search engine invoked by a client computer is augmented to further invoke a content security scanner and append security inspection results to its conventional search results. The thus appended search results are returned to the client computer for display. FIGS. 5 and 6, described in detail herein below, illustrate a client-side architecture, where a conventional search engine is invoked, and a client computer is augmented, perhaps in an installed web browser, to invoke the content security scanner and display the security inspection results. FIGS. 7 and 8, described in detail herein below, illustrate a different client-side architecture, where the content security scanner stores its inspection results in a database indexed by web page URLs, and the client computer retrieves inspection results for the web pages located by the search engine.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which is a simplified block diagram of a server-side system for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 3 are three primary components; namely, a client computer 310, a search engine 320 and a content scanner 330. Client computer 310 includes a web browser 340, which enables a user of client computer 310 to retrieve and display web pages and media from a computer network such as the Internet. In order to locate desired web pages and media, the user of client computer 310 can issue a search request with designated search terms to search engine 320.

Search engine 320 includes a web server 350, which serves web pages and media to client computers. Search engine 320 receives as input one or more search terms, searches the computer network, or a pre-populated database, locates web pages and media that include the user's designated search terms, and prepares as output a search results report that includes links to the located web pages and media, such as the search results report shown in FIG. 1. Content scanner 330 receives as input one or more designated web pages or pieces of media content, and conducts a security analysis of content in the designated web pages or designated media, to detect the presence of potentially malicious code that could damage or compromise the security of client computer 310, and prepares as output a security assessment for each of the designated web pages or pieces of media content.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, search engine 320 issues a request for content scanner 330 to scan the content in the web pages and media located by search engine 320, for the presence of potentially malicious code that could damage or compromise the security of client computer 310. In turn, content scanner 330 responds to search engine 320 with a security assessment for each of the web pages and pieces of media content. In preparing the search results report, search engine 320 combines the security assessments together with the links to the located web pages and media, to produce an enhanced report such as the search results report shown in FIG. 2. The enhanced search results report is sent to client computer 310, and displayed to the user of client computer 310 who initiated the search request.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, content security scanner 330 uses logical rules 360 to perform its inspection of web page content and media content. Logical rules 360 may be used to define the security breaches that content security scanner 330 checks for. For example, logical rules 360 may prescribe that content security scanner 330 should check for detection of potential file system breaches, network connection breaches and spying activity in the content it scans.

Further in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, search engine 320 includes user settings 370 for governing how security assessments are used, and for configuring a search results report based on inspection results received from content scanner 330. The search results report may be configured to filter out web pages that are determined to include potentially malicious content. The search results report may be configured to list potentially unsafe web pages but to block their access, or to conditionally block their access pending confirmation from a user. User settings 370 can be entered by users connected to search engine 320, and may be persisted in a web browser 340 cookie file on client computer 310 for subsequent retrieval.

Security assessments received from content scanner 330 may be cached in search engine 320 for subsequent retrieval, thereby obviating the need to send links to the same web pages and media from search engine 320 to content scanner 330 for re-scanning.

If appropriate, some web sites may be listed in a “white list” of web sites known to be safe. The “white list” is stored on search engine 320 or on content scanner 330 or on both, so that references to web pages and content on such sites do not need to be scanned for potential security violations. Alternatively, the “white list” may be stored on client computer 310 and transmitted to search engine 320 when they are connected.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which is a simplified flow chart of a server-side method for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The flow chart of FIG. 4 is divided into three columns. The leftmost column indicates steps performed by a client computer, such as client computer 310 (FIG. 3). The middle column indicates steps performed by a search engine, such as search engine 320. The rightmost column indicates steps performed by a content scanner, such as content scanner 330.

At step 405 a user of the client computer submits a search request to the search engine, including one or more designated search terms. At step 410 the search engine receives the search request from the client computer. At step 415 the search engine retrieves the desired search results by locating web pages and media that include the designated search terms. Generally, the search engine locates the web pages and media from a pre-populated database, rather than by real-time web searching. At step 420 a determination is made as to whether or not any such web pages or media were located. If not, then at step 425 the search engine returns to the client computer an indicator that no results were found. At step 430 the client computer receives the indicator and at step 435 the client computer displays a page indicating to the user that no results were found.

Otherwise, if it is determined at step 420 that search results were found, then at step 440 the search engine sends links to the web pages and media it located to the content scanner for inspection. At step 445 the content scanner receives links to the web pages and media located in the search, and at step 450 the content scanner assesses the security of content in the located web pages and media. At step 455, the content scanner returns assessments for the located web pages and media to the search engine. It will be appreciated that the content scanner may also record the assessments in a log file, for post-analysis and post-processing.

At step 460 the search engine receives the security assessments from the content scanner, and at step 465 the search engine appends the security assessments in its summary search results report. Thus, the search results report contains both links to the located web pages and media, and security assessments for the located web pages and media. At step 470 the search engine sends its modified search results report, with the appended security assessments, to the client computer. It will be appreciated that the search engine may also record the assessments in a log file, for post-analysis and post-processing.

At step 475 the client computer receives the modified search results report, and at step 480 the client computer displays the modified search results report to the user who initiated the search request. It will be appreciated that the client computer may also record the assessments in a log file, for subsequent review by the user, and for post-analysis and post-processing.

Referring to step 440, while all of the search results may be sent to the content scanner for analysis, in a further embodiment, only those search results that will be presented to the user on a first page of search result links are initially sent for analysis. If the user selects to receive additional web pages containing additional search results, those search results are then sent for analysis once the corresponding search results page is requested. By incrementally sending search results to the content scanner, unnecessary content scanning is reduced, resulting in a more efficient system.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the search engine sends the unmodified search results, without the security assessments appended, to the client computer, prior to step 440, before the search engine receives the security assessments from the content scanner. At step 470, after receiving the security assessments from the content scanner, the search engine sends the modified search results, with the security assessments appended, to the client computer. In turn, the client computer updates the search results based on the security assessments.

This alternative embodiment eliminates the latency of scanning content in the located web pages and media. It enables a user of the client computer to access the located web pages and media immediately after the search engine locates these pages and pieces of media content, and before the security assessments are available, albeit at the user's risk. During the stage when the client computer displays the unmodified search results before receiving the security assessments, the client computer may display a notice indicating to the user that the client computer is awaiting the security assessments. Such a notice may be of the form “(Checking for malicious content . . . )”.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a simplified block diagram of a first client-side system for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The system shown in FIG. 5 has primary components which are similar to the three components shown in FIG. 3; namely, a client computer 510, a search engine 520 and a content scanner 530. However, in FIG. 5 client computer 510 interacts directly with content scanner 530, whereas in FIG. 3 the search engine interacted directly with the content scanner. Client computer 510 includes web browser software 540, and search engine 520 includes web server software 550.

A user of client computer 510 submits a search request to search engine 520 with search terms designated by the user. Search engine 520 behaves like a conventional search engine, which receives as input a search request with one or more designated search terms, searches a computer network or a pre-populated database, locates web pages and media that include the designated search terms, and prepares a search results summary report with links to the located web pages and media, which it returns as output to client computer 510. Content scanner 530 receives as input links to one or more designated web pages and pieces of media content, and scans the content in the designated web pages and media to detect the presence of potentially malicious program code. Content scanner 530 returns as output security assessments for the designated web pages and media.

After receiving the search results report from search engine 520, client computer 510 issues a request to content scanner 530 to scan the web pages and media referenced in the search results report, for the presence of potentially malicious program code. Content scanner 530 produces security assessments for content in the web pages and media, indicating the presence or non-presence of potential security risks. Client computer 510 receives the security assessments from content scanner 530 and displays the search results with links to the located web pages and media, together with the security assessments for the located web pages and media, to the user of client computer 510 who initiated the search request.

Content scanner 530 may include logical rules 560 that govern how it inspects web content. Client computer 510 may include user settings 570 that govern how security assessments are used, and how search results reports are configured. User settings 570 can be entered by a user of client computer 510 and saved for subsequent use.

Security assessments received from content scanner 530 may be cached in client computer 510 for subsequent retrieval, thereby obviating the need to send links to the same web pages and media from client computer 510 to content scanner 530 for re-scanning.

If appropriate, some web sites may be listed in a “white list” of web sites known to be safe. The “white” list is stored on client computer 510 or on content scanner 530 or on both, so that references to web pages and content on such sites do not need to be scanned for potential security violations.

It may be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system of FIG. 5 differs from the system of FIG. 3 regarding the component that interacts with the content security scanner. In the server-side system of FIG. 3, the search engine communicates with the content security scanner and combines the security assessments with the search results report. In the client-side system of FIG. 5, the search engine behaves like a conventional search engine, and the client computer communicates with the content security scanner.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is a simplified flow chart of a first client-side method for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As with FIG. 4, the flow chart of FIG. 6 is divided into three columns, a left column indicating steps performed by a client computer, a middle column indicating steps performed by a search engine, and a right column indicating steps performed by a content scanner.

At step 605 a user of the client computer submits a search request to the search engine, with one or more search terms designated by the user. At step 610 the search engine receives the user's search request, and at step 615 the search engine retrieves the desired search results by locating web pages and media that include the designated search terms. Generally, the search engine locates the web pages and media from a pre-populated database, rather than by real-time web searching. The search engine prepares a summary search results report with links to the located web pages and media, and at step 620 it sends the search results to the client computer.

At step 625 the client computer receives the search results from the search engine, and at step 630 a determination is made as to whether or not any results were found. If not, then at step 635 the client computer displays a page indicating to the user that no results were found. Otherwise, if results were found, then processing proceeds from step 630 to step 640, where the client computer sends the search results report to the content scanner for security inspection. At step 645 the content scanner receives the search results, and at step 650 the content scanner analyzes content in the located web pages and media for the presence of potentially malicious content. The content scanner derives a security assessment for the located web pages and media, indicating the presence or non-presence of potential security risks. It will be appreciated that the content scanner may also record the assessments in a log file, for post-analysis and post-processing.

At step 655 the content scanner returns the security assessments for the located web pages to the client computer. At step 660 the client computer receives the security assessments, and at step 665 the client computer displays the search results and the security assessments to the user who initiated the search request. Thus the user can view links to the located web pages and media, and security assessments for the located web pages and media. It will be appreciated that the client computer may also record the assessments in a log file, for subsequent review by the user, and for post-analysis and post-processing.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which is a simplified block diagram of a second client-side system, using active code, for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Shown in FIG. 7 are three primary components; namely, a client computer 705, a search engine 710 and a content security scanner 715. Client computer 705 includes web browser software 720, and search engine 710 includes web server software 725.

A user of client computer 705 issues a search request to search engine 710 with one or more designated search terms. Search engine 710 receives as input a search request with one or more designated search terms, searches a computer network or a pre-populated database, locates web pages and media on the Internet that include the one or more designated search terms, and produces a summary search results report with links to the located web pages and media. In addition, search engine 710 appends active program code 740 as described herein below, to the search results report, and returns the thus appended report to client computer 705 as output. Content scanner 715 receives as input one or more designated web pages and pieces of media content, scans content in the designated web pages and media to generate security assessments for the web pages and media, and stores the security assessments in a database 730 controlled by a database manager 735. Database 730 stores records of security assessments for content in web pages and media, and is indexed by web page and media references. That is, security assessment for one or more web pages and pieces of media content may be retrieved from database 730 by querying the database based on a web page reference, such as a web page uniform resource locator (URL).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, active program code is program code that is automatically executed by web browser 720, including inter alia Javascript program code and VB script program code. Active program code is generally embedded in a reply message from search engine 710 to client computer 705. When executed by web browser 720, active program code queries database 730 to retrieve security assessments for one or more designated web pages and pieces of media, receives the query results, and embeds them in the search results report.

A user of client computer 705 issues a search request to search engine 710, with one or more user designated search terms. Search engine 710 conducts the search and locates one or more web pages and pieces of media content that include the designated search terms. Search engine 710 prepares a search results report that includes links to the located web pages and media, and also appends active program code 740 to the search results report. The thus appended search results report is returned to client computer 705.

Search engine 710 also issues a request to content scanner 715 to analyze content in the located web pages and media for potential security risks. In turn, content scanner 715 scans the content in the located web pages and media, inspects the content for the presence of potentially malicious code, and stores the inspection results in database 730.

When web browser 720 receives the search results report from search engine 710, it launches a processor 745 for executing active program code. Processor 745 may be a special purpose processor, or a conventional computer CPU. As mentioned hereinabove, active program code 740 is programmed to query database manager 735 to retrieve from database 730 security assessments for one or more designated web pages and pieces of media content; namely, the web pages and media located by search engine 710. After client computer 705 receives the requested security assessments, it displays links to the located web pages and media, and security assessments for the located web pages and media, to the user of client computer 705 who initiated the search request.

Content scanner 715 may include logical rules 750 that govern how it inspects web content. Client computer 705 may include user settings 755 that govern how security assessments are used, and how search results reports are configured. User settings 755 can be entered by a user of client computer 705 and saved for subsequent use.

Security assessments received from database 730 may be cached in client computer 705 for subsequent retrieval, thereby obviating the need to send links to the same web pages and media from client computer 705 to database manager 735 for retrieval of their security assessments a second time.

If appropriate, some web sites may be listed in a “white list” of web sites known to be safe. The “white list” is stored on client computer 705 or on search engine 710 or on content scanner 715 or on two or on all three of them, so that references to web page and content on such sites do not need to be scanned for potential security violations.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system shown in FIG. 7 differs from the system shown in FIG. 5 regarding the client computer module. In FIG. 5 the client module invokes the content scanner, where in FIG. 7 the search engine invokes the content scanner and the client module retrieves the inspection results from the database. Use of database 730 for storing security assessments enables content security scanning to be performed asynchronously, and not necessarily in real-time. Use of database 730 for storing security assessments also enables content security scanning to be performed pro-actively, and not necessarily reactively.

It will further be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be implemented in many system architectures in addition to those shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and 7. Thus, inter alia, the search engine may interact directly with the database manager; the content scanner may be incorporated directly within the search engine; the content scanner may be incorporated directly within the client computer; and in fact all three components, the client computer, the search engine and the content scanner, may reside within the same computer hardware.

Reference is now made to FIG. 8, which is a simplified flow chart of a second client-side method, using active code, for appending security information to search results, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is divided into three columns, the left column including steps performed by a client computer, the middle column including steps performed by a search engine, and the right column including steps performed by a content security scanner.

At step 805 a user of the client computer submits a search request to the search engine with one or more designated search terms. At step 810 the search engine receives the user's search request, and at step 815 the search engine retrieves the desired search results by locating web pages and media that include the designated search terms. Generally, the search engine locates the web pages and media from a pre-populated database, rather than by real-time web scanning. At step 820 a determination is made as to whether or not any such web pages and media were located. If not, then at step 825 the search engine returns to the client computer an indication that no search results were found. At step 830 the client computer receives the indication, and at step 835 the client computer displays to the user a page indicating that no results were found.

Otherwise, if the search engine did locate web pages with the designated search terms, then processing proceeds from step 820 to steps 840 and 850. At step 840 the search engine embeds active program code, denoted by “Code A” and described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 7, into a search results report, and at step 845 the search engine sends the thus modified search results report to the client computer.

At step 850 the search engine sends a request to the content analysis for security analysis of the web pages and media that it located in its search. At step 860 the content scanner receives the security analysis request from the search engine, and inspects content in the web pages and media, and derives security assessments for the web pages and media. At step 865 the content scanner stores the security assessments in a database. The database is indexed by references, such as URLs, to web pages and media, and stores records of security assessments for each indexed web page and piece of media content. It will be appreciated that the content scanner may also record the assessments in a log file, for post-analysis and post-processing.

At step 870 the client computer receives the modified search results report sent to it by the search engine at step 845, the search results report including the embedded active program code. At step 875 the client computer executes the active program code, which is programmed to retrieve security assessments for designated web pages and pieces of media content from the database. Specifically, at step 880 the client computer, under instructions by the active program code, retrieves security assessments for the web pages and media referenced in the search results report. At step 885 the client computer displays links to the located web pages and media, and security assessments for the located web pages and media, to the user who initiated the search request. It will be appreciated that the client computer may also record the assessments in a log file, for subsequent review and for post-analysis and post-processing.

In reading the above description, persons skilled in the art will realize that there are many apparent variations that can be applied to the methods and systems described. Thus it will be appreciated that the present invention applies to a wide variety of client computing devices, including mobile devices and wireless devices, such as inter alia laptop computers, notebook computers, personal data assistants (PDAs), and cellular telephones.

In the system and method described in FIGS. 3 and 4, a user of a client computer submits a search request directly to a search engine. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in an alternative embodiment, the user may submit the search request to a web application, which in turn (i) submits the user's search request to a search engine, and (ii) submits the search results to a content scanner for security assessment. Reference is now made to FIG. 9, which is a simplified block diagram of such a system architecture.

Shown in FIG. 9 is a web application 910, which receives as input a search request from a user of client computer 920, the search request including one or more designated search terms, and returns as output search results including references to web pages and media that contain the user's search terms, together with security assessments for the referenced web pages and media. Web application 910 operates by submitting the user's search request to search engine 930, and receiving from search engine 930 search results in the form of references to web pages and media that contain the user's search terms. In turn, web application 910 submits the search results to content scanner 940, and receives from content scanner 940 security assessments for the located web pages and media. Web application 910 returns to client computer 920 a report that combines both the search results and the security assessments.

Similarly, the architecture of the system in FIG. 7 may alternatively be embodied using a web application. Reference is now made to FIG. 10, which is a simplified block diagram of such a system. Shown in FIG. 10 is a web application 1010, which receives as input a search request from a user of client computer 1020, the search request including one or more designated search terms, and returns as output search results including references to web pages and media that contain the user's search terms, together with active program code 1070, denoted “Code A”. Web application 1010 operates by submitting the user's search request to search engine 1030, and receiving from search engine 1030 search results in the form of references to web pages and media that contain the user's search terms. In turn, web application 1010 submits the search results to content scanner 1040.

Content scanner derives security assessments for web pages and media, and stores the results in a database 1050 indexed by references to web pages and media. Database 1050 is managed by a database manager 1060. When client computer 1020 receives active program code, a processor 1080 automatically executes active program code. The active program code is programmed to send one or more queries, regarding the referenced web pages and media, to database manager 1060, which retrieves the security assessments for the referenced web pages and media, and sends them as query responses to client computer 1020. Client computer 1020 then prepares a report that combines both the search results and the security assessments, and displays the report to the user who submitted the search request, so that the user can identify the web pages and media in the search results together with assessments of potential security risks for content in these web pages and media.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 

1. A method for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer; locating web content in a computer network that includes the at least one designated search term; requesting assessment of the located web content for potential security risks; receiving an assessment indicating potential security risks; and transmitting a search results summary that includes security assessments and links to the located web content.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results summary is generated based upon user configuration information received from the client computer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results summary transmitted to the client computer displays links to web content assessed to have potential security risks in a different color.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results summary transmitted to the client computer displays links to web content assessed to have potential security risks by providing special icons adjacent to the links.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results summary transmitted to the client computer includes links to located web content assessed to be of low risk to the security of the client computer.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the search results summary enables a client computer to filter out links to web content assessed to have potential security risks from being displayed.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein web content comprises a web page.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein web content comprises media content, which includes at least one of the group consisting of an audio file comprising a song, an audio file comprising speech, an image file comprising a picture, a video file comprising a video clip, a video file comprising a movie, a file comprising an animation, a file comprising a presentation, and a file comprising a slide show.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing information pertaining to the received security assessment in a cache.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessment is first requested within the search engine by checking a list identifying web content known to have a low security risk.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein an assessment is requested of an external content scanner upon determining that that the web content is not identified on the list of web content known to have a low security risk.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessment is requested for a portion of the search results that will be presented to the user on a search results summary web page.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein additional assessments are requested for additional portions of the search results once requests are received from the client computer for additional search results summary web pages.
 14. A system for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: a search engine for receiving at least one user-designated search term from a client computer, for locating, in a computer network, web content that includes the received at least one designated search term, for issuing a security analysis request to assess at least one located item of web content for potential security risks, and for preparing a search results summary to be transmitted to the client computer that incorporates a security assessment for the assessed item of web content; and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with the search engine for responding to the issued security analysis request to assess security associated with the item of web content.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the search engine prepares the search results summary based upon user configuration information received from the client computer.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein a user can configure the search engine to transmit the search results summary with links to web content assessed to have potential security risks displayed in a different color.
 17. The system of claim 15 wherein a user can configure the search results summary to display links to web content assessed to have potential security risks by providing special icons adjacent to the links.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein the search engine transmits data such that a client computer is enabled to filter out links to web content assessed to have potential security risks from being displayed in the search results summary.
 19. The system of claim 14, wherein web content comprises web pages.
 20. The system of claim 14, wherein web content comprises media content, which includes at least one of the group consisting of an audio file comprising a song, an audio file comprising speech, an image file comprising a picture, a video file comprising a video clip, a video file comprising a movie, a file comprising an animation, a file comprising a presentation, and a file comprising a slide show.
 21. Computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively: receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer; locate web content in a computer network that includes the at least one designated search term; assess the located web content for potential security risks; and transmit a search results summary that includes links to the located web content and security assessments for the located web content.
 22. A system for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, for preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, for embedding an active program within the search results, and for issuing a security analysis request to a content security scanner to assess at least one designated web page for potential security risks; a client computer communicatively coupled with said search engine for issuing a search request with at least one user designated search term to said search engine, for receiving the search results summary from said search engine, and for executing the active program; a content security scanner communicatively coupled with said search engine, for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page for potential security risks, and for storing the security assessments in a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by links to web pages; and a database manager communicatively coupled with said search engine and with said client computer, which is invoked by the active program, for retrieving from the database security assessments for content in at least one designated web page.
 23. A method for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer, locating web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term; preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages; embedding an active program within the search results summary, the active program for retrieving security assessments for the located web pages from the database; assessing content in the located web pages for potential security risks; and storing the assessments of content in the located web pages within a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by references to web pages.
 24. Computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively: receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer; locate web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term; prepare a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages; embed an active program within the search results summary, the active program for retrieving security assessments for the located web pages from the database; assess content in the located web pages for potential security risks; and store the assessments of content in the located web pages within a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by references to web pages.
 25. A system for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term, for preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages, and for embedding an active program within the search results summary; a client computer communicatively coupled with said search engine for issuing a search request with at least one user designated search term to said search engine, for receiving the search results summary from said search engine, and for executing the active program; and a content security scanner communicatively coupled with said client computer, which is invoked by the active program, for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page for potential security risks.
 26. A method for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: receiving a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer; locating web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term; preparing a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages; embedding an active program within the search results summary, the active program for requesting security analysis of at least one designated web page; and assessing content in the at least one designated web page for potential security risks.
 27. Computer-readable storage media storing program code for causing a plurality of computing devices to cooperatively: receive a search request with at least one designated search term from a client computer; locate web pages in a computer network that include the at least one designated search term; prepare a search results summary that includes links to the located web pages; embed an active program within the search results summary, the active program for requesting security analysis of at least one designated web page; and assess content in the at least one designated web page for potential security risks.
 28. A system for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: a client computer for issuing a search request with at least one designated search term; a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term; a content security scanner for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page, for potential security risks; and a web application coupled with said client computer, with said search engine and with said content security scanner, for receiving a search request from said client computer, for issuing a search request to said search engine, for issuing a security analysis request to said content security scanner based on search results received from said search engine, for preparing a results summary that includes links to located web pages and security assessments for the located web pages based on results received from said content security scanner, and for returning the results summary to said client computer.
 29. A system for appending security information to search engine results, comprising: a database manager for storing and retrieving security assessments, from a database that stores security assessments for content in web pages, the database being indexed by reference to web pages; a client computer coupled with said database manager, for issuing a search request with at least one designated search term, and for executing active program code for retrieving security assessments for content in designated web pages from the database; a search engine for locating, in a computer network, web pages that include at least one designated search term; a content security scanner coupled with said database manager, for assessing security of content in at least one designated web page, for potential security risks, and for storing the assessments within the database; and a web application coupled with said client computer, with said search engine and with said content security scanner, for receiving a search request from said client computer, for issuing a search request to said search engine, for issuing a security analysis request to said content security scanner based on search results received from said search engine, and for returning the search results, together with the active program code to said client computer. 